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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Iiphoto Lost My Photos!
jennifermoore - Aug 8, 2005 - 3:42 pm
I just launched iPhoto and all my pictures that I downloaded from my digital camera are gone. I believe that it first told me that a library was not found (?). PLEAE HELP!
jennifermoore
jennifermoore
Drumhum - Aug 8, 2005 - 5:46 pm
jennifer,
I'm Tom and I shall be assisting you.
iPhoto typically stores your photos in a folder that it creates, called iPhoto Library, in your Pictures folder (this is in your home folder). I say "typically" as iphoto allows you to change the location of its library.
I am assuming you have not changed the default location of iPhoto's picture library.
launch iphoto while holding down the alt key (aka option key) and click on "locate library". now navigate to you Pictures folder in your home folder and hopefully you'll see iPhoto Library folder. select this folder and click open. Your pictures should appear in iphoto as normal.
Try this and let me know how you get on. If you still have problems we shall take things further. If there are further problems please supply as much info as you can including what computer model, OS version, iphoto version you have. Also try and think of anything significant you have done just before this problem occurred. many many things can cause such issues and we'll need to whittle things down!
regards
Tom
--------
You will be asked for feedback once this query is closed. All us techs love to get feedback:-) Thanks for using macosx.com
I'm Tom and I shall be assisting you.
iPhoto typically stores your photos in a folder that it creates, called iPhoto Library, in your Pictures folder (this is in your home folder). I say "typically" as iphoto allows you to change the location of its library.
I am assuming you have not changed the default location of iPhoto's picture library.
launch iphoto while holding down the alt key (aka option key) and click on "locate library". now navigate to you Pictures folder in your home folder and hopefully you'll see iPhoto Library folder. select this folder and click open. Your pictures should appear in iphoto as normal.
Try this and let me know how you get on. If you still have problems we shall take things further. If there are further problems please supply as much info as you can including what computer model, OS version, iphoto version you have. Also try and think of anything significant you have done just before this problem occurred. many many things can cause such issues and we'll need to whittle things down!
regards
Tom
--------
You will be asked for feedback once this query is closed. All us techs love to get feedback:-) Thanks for using macosx.com
jennifermoore - Aug 8, 2005 - 9:44 pm
Tom,
Firstly, thank you so much for responding to my request. I can't tell you how nice it is to have someone willing to help a person ignorant to Macintosh equipment. I have had little luck with Mac support via telephone.
Secondly, when I launch iPhoto (while holding the alt key) the program opens under the "Organize" tab, where my photos were originally stored. No prompt to locate a library appears.
I am operating an iMac PowerPC 750 (450 MHz) on OS X v. 10.3.5
I am also using iPhoto 2. I have been prompted to upgrade the version of iPhoto (and iTunes), but I did not know if this would affect my photos (i.e. make them disappear!)
Can you help?
Thank you!
Firstly, thank you so much for responding to my request. I can't tell you how nice it is to have someone willing to help a person ignorant to Macintosh equipment. I have had little luck with Mac support via telephone.
Secondly, when I launch iPhoto (while holding the alt key) the program opens under the "Organize" tab, where my photos were originally stored. No prompt to locate a library appears.
I am operating an iMac PowerPC 750 (450 MHz) on OS X v. 10.3.5
I am also using iPhoto 2. I have been prompted to upgrade the version of iPhoto (and iTunes), but I did not know if this would affect my photos (i.e. make them disappear!)
Can you help?
Thank you!
Drumhum - Aug 9, 2005 - 9:08 am
jennifer,
ah! The advice I gave you regarding the alt key is for later versions of iphoto. Sorry for the confusion.
Just to clarify, do you have any picture in iphoto or have they all disappeared?
Assuming you have most of your pictures still in iphoto...
Make sure you are in "organize" mode and that you have the "library" selected in the left hand bar. You can view your pictures in different ways (eg by name, by role, by date etc). If you change this setting it can be confusing as your pictures might not be where you expect them to be in the list, so scroll around the library to make sure your pictures aren't in there somewhere!
the other place they could be is in the iPhoto trash. You can look in there by simply selecting the trash can icon in the side bar. If you find them in there just drag them all out to the library in iphoto.
Assuming you have no pictures in iphoto at all...
Double click the hard disk again to open a window and type in the search field (in the top right corner) "iPhoto Library" and see if it finds a library. If there was an iPhoto library folder in the picture folder then it will obviously find this but we are looking for a second library folder.
[You see, if somehow the iPhoto Library folder got moved from the pictures folder, iPhoto will just create a new fresh, blank library when it notices there is no library folder in your pictures folder. We are looking for the library folder that got moved somehow.]
If indeed there is a second library folder make a note of where it is (click it once in the find list and you can see its location "pathway" at the bottom of the window). Now move the iPhoto Library folder from the pictures folder to the desktop and place the other iPhoto Library folder you found, in the Pictures folder. (ie Put the old one back in its home!)
Now launch iphoto again (if its already running, quit first) and see if things are back to normal.
Let me know how you get on.
If non of this works for you try to explain what happens to you when you tried these suggestions with as much detail as possible. Also if I've asked you any questions - don't be shy in answering even if you are not sure of any jargon etc.
lets hope for a happy ending to this story!
regards
Tom
--------
You will be asked for feedback once this query is closed. All us techs love to get feedback:-) Thanks for using macosx.com
ah! The advice I gave you regarding the alt key is for later versions of iphoto. Sorry for the confusion.
Just to clarify, do you have any picture in iphoto or have they all disappeared?
Assuming you have most of your pictures still in iphoto...
Make sure you are in "organize" mode and that you have the "library" selected in the left hand bar. You can view your pictures in different ways (eg by name, by role, by date etc). If you change this setting it can be confusing as your pictures might not be where you expect them to be in the list, so scroll around the library to make sure your pictures aren't in there somewhere!
the other place they could be is in the iPhoto trash. You can look in there by simply selecting the trash can icon in the side bar. If you find them in there just drag them all out to the library in iphoto.
Assuming you have no pictures in iphoto at all...
Double click the hard disk again to open a window and type in the search field (in the top right corner) "iPhoto Library" and see if it finds a library. If there was an iPhoto library folder in the picture folder then it will obviously find this but we are looking for a second library folder.
[You see, if somehow the iPhoto Library folder got moved from the pictures folder, iPhoto will just create a new fresh, blank library when it notices there is no library folder in your pictures folder. We are looking for the library folder that got moved somehow.]
If indeed there is a second library folder make a note of where it is (click it once in the find list and you can see its location "pathway" at the bottom of the window). Now move the iPhoto Library folder from the pictures folder to the desktop and place the other iPhoto Library folder you found, in the Pictures folder. (ie Put the old one back in its home!)
Now launch iphoto again (if its already running, quit first) and see if things are back to normal.
Let me know how you get on.
If non of this works for you try to explain what happens to you when you tried these suggestions with as much detail as possible. Also if I've asked you any questions - don't be shy in answering even if you are not sure of any jargon etc.
lets hope for a happy ending to this story!
regards
Tom
--------
You will be asked for feedback once this query is closed. All us techs love to get feedback:-) Thanks for using macosx.com
jennifermoore - Aug 9, 2005 - 11:26 pm
Tom,
I found the iPhoto Library by using the Finder and I moved the photos into the "new" photo library (at least I believe that I moved them). They appear to all be there; when I closed the program and re-opened iPhoto, the pictures were still there. I hope that I have correctly restored them.
Thank you, again, for your help. I will certainly use macosx.com again. This was a wonderful (support) experience.
Jennifer Moore
I found the iPhoto Library by using the Finder and I moved the photos into the "new" photo library (at least I believe that I moved them). They appear to all be there; when I closed the program and re-opened iPhoto, the pictures were still there. I hope that I have correctly restored them.
Thank you, again, for your help. I will certainly use macosx.com again. This was a wonderful (support) experience.
Jennifer Moore
Drumhum - Aug 10, 2005 - 6:47 am
jennifer,
I think we've cracked it then!
Enjoy your pictures;-)
regards
Tom
--------
You will be asked for feedback once this query is closed. All us techs love to get feedback:-) Thanks for using macosx.com
I think we've cracked it then!
Enjoy your pictures;-)
regards
Tom
--------
You will be asked for feedback once this query is closed. All us techs love to get feedback:-) Thanks for using macosx.com
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